# Plain Language Summary: Protecting Businesses From Frivolous COVID Lawsuits Act of 2025

This bill changes how juries decide COVID-19 negligence cases in federal court. Specifically, it requires judges to give juries a special instruction that makes it much harder for people to win lawsuits against businesses for spreading COVID-19. The key part is that the bill says simply opening a business during the pandemic cannot, by itself, be considered negligent. In other words, a business can't be found liable just because it stayed open and someone caught COVID there.

Here's what this means in practice: If someone gets sick with COVID and wants to sue a business, restaurant, gym, or office for negligence, the jury must be told that the act of operating the business is automatically considered "reasonable" under the law. This is a significant advantage for businesses because it removes one of the main arguments people could make—that the business was irresponsible just for being open. Even if a business took no safety precautions whatsoever, the jury instruction would protect it from liability based solely on that fact.

The bill applies only to federal courts and only to cases where someone is suing for negligence specifically related to COVID transmission. Someone would still need to prove the business did something actively wrong—like deliberately hiding that employees were sick, or completely ignoring all safety guidelines—to win a case. But the bill essentially says that the decision to operate during the pandemic itself cannot be the basis for finding a business negligent, which significantly shields businesses from this type of lawsuit.

Protecting Businesses From Frivolous COVID Lawsuits Act of 2025

Biggs, Andy

Protecting Businesses From Frivolous COVID Lawsuits Act of 2025This bill requires a specific jury instruction in a federal civil action for damages based on negligence arising from the transmission of COVID-19.Specifically, a court must instruct the jury that negligence may not be found solely on the basis of holding oneself open for business.